If this is supposed to be the last half of the spring why are parts of Colorado and much of the mountain west getting over 24 inches of snow? When the forecast was released it sounded a bit outlandish as the snow season was supposed to be long over with. Guess not. Over the last few nights we also saw night time lows in the upper Midwest drop into the low 40s down to frosty conditions. That cool down is now limiting GDU accumulations and correspondingly slowing emergence and growth of the crops that have now been in the ground for three plus weeks so far.
So was it the frequent but not always toad strangling amounts of rain that has slowed the planting progress across most of the cornbelt. One would have to say it was the cold as April of 2022 has gone down in the record books as one of the coolest on record. In the earliest corn fields planted near 4/15 numerous stands have been lower than desired versus those planted close to May 1st. The ground was cold for too long, and as a result replanting was or will be necessary yet. The wettest fields or where 3” of rain fell farmers will be planting for the first time. There is now news of major soybean replanting taking place in Illinois where a high percent of adventuresome growers who believed they could outguess Mother Nature planted quite a few acres around April 15th.
Uncertainty for 2023
In most situations a high % of the input products for fertilizing and planting made it to the retailers without causing major delays. Much of the fertilizer was likely in place or enroute to the U.S. before the Russian conflict kicked off and shipping from that part of the world stopped. Lots of inventory and shipping managers put in long hours and made lots of phone calls to make things happen. Having a delayed planting season was a blessing for them.
It sounds like much of the spring crops got planted amid fuel scarcities and travel upheavals. The shutdown of the ports leaves rail shipments to China and counties to the east as their main avenue to empty storage facilities before the next crop comes in. That means winter wheat harvest will place pressure on storage matters.
Now if there are significant shortages of fertilizer and pesticides, or port problems hindering movement to the Midwest, we may see a situation that we have never seen before. A lot of growers may be wondering how to produce the normal crops without the inputs they take for granted. Who might they look to for answers and guidance. There are several forward thinking crops people doing early planning and thinking the best suited growers to pass on the things they have learned by trial and error are in the regenerative farmers category. They have done things differently and have managed their soil for longevity, and good biological activity. Many have boosted their soil carbon levels since they realized it helped drought proofed their crops and allows them to have N-fixing bacteria fix a portion or majority of their nitrogen. What is most notable is they focus on the best profitability rather than the highest yields. If this strategy is something you would like to get exposed to, look for the Soil Health Field Day on June 6th down in Washington County. The planning for speakers for December meetings is on-going. Those guys have been preparing for such a time for a few years as they foresaw a few of the current conundrums that many farmers face.
Challenges in Certain Fields
Smaller broadleaf weeds are much easier to control than those over 6” tall. The number of growing points increase dramatically. So now and over the next two weeks will be the optimum time to spray for the emerged weeds and grass.
Locating decent rotary hoes to fracture the crust in early planted corn and bean fields was a challenge for a number of operators. Many of them have not been used for a few seasons or had traded them off. The calls to use them were made by growers and crop scouts who were finding 4 to 5 per 1,000th/A of the small corn plants didn’t have enough energy to push thru the thick crusts formed when the 90+ degree heat baked the top inch of soil. In many cases the small spikes had opened up and the curled-up coleoptiles had lost the ability to break through the hardened soils. Gaining those 4 to 5K plants/A by exposing the leaves to capture the sunshine energy to allow help them grow towards the surface and emerge. With $6 corn recommending hoeing was a no brainer. The rotary hoes are nice machines to when the higher Mg soils have emergence problems.
The same challenge developed for guys who planted beans when soil temps were sub 45 degrees and the wet soils got baked by the 90+ temps. Agronomists who have learned from experience will instruct first-to-plant growers to plant their larger seeded corn first. The recommendations on soybeans differ in that the smaller seeded lots should be planted first, as the bean plants function by pulling the seed halves up through the soil. Larger sized bean seed will be more challenged to emerge versus smaller seed.
The recent word from Illinois growers had a higher % of the Mid-April planted beans that will need to be replanted. The seeds will swell if there is enough moisture but the cool temps kept the beans from growing. Their goal of planting early doesn’t look like it will not pay off this year. In past years an increasing % of bean fields have been planted before their corn. That tactic was likely part of the reason why their bean yields have been climbing. Early planted bean plants typically form more podded nodes. With that tactic not available, then their go-to option will be to increase branch number with Cytokine hormones or application of the bacteria that form that hormone. There are several ways to make the extra branches form. One would be an on seed or early post application of cytokine producing bacteria. Another method would be making an early post application of Spraytec’s Impulse which also generates that hormone to be formed from the AAs and minerals contained. That idea makes sense with $8 and $9 beans, and even more sense with high dollar beans going into this season. After that is accomplished the next task will be to supply the minerals and energy to maximize pod retention.
One thought in this later planting year is that most herbicides work by chelating one or more minerals essential for growth. There are a few charts that list what exact product of herbicide family ties up one or more of the micronutrients. Because we seemed to be doomed to a shorter and quicker season, and slowing down a crops’ growth and development could have a larger effect due to less time available for recovery of the crop plants, a person may want to do research into what minerals are tied up by which products and be ready to help resuscitate the crop plants mineral wise. In other words, there is no need to let yellow flash from any pesticide linger for weeks longer than necessary.
Planting Date Ramifications
Will the later planting dates of both crops lower the final yields? The answer for this question starts with ‘It Depends on a long list of variables: “How many GDUs will be lost by not having the corn seed in the ground by April 20th, 25th of May 5? What will be the rainfall timings and amounts? What will the weather conditions be at pollination time? Will it make the corn or bean crops more disease prone as wet weather allows fungal spores to infect more effectively? With 2022 expected to be the high peak year for European Corn Borer will they become a factor on conventional hybrids?
I was checking out the comments from the different crops people. They have to remain optimistic rather than the opposite. I remember back in the late 70s we had a late planting season and the same sorts of questions were posed. So teams from each information source looked thru years’ worth of yield data to see on what date were the highest yielding fields planted on. This year the ground never warmed up and stayed there until the second week in May. Given a choice I would prefer to have a near perfect stand with good soil conditions, no sidewall compaction and even emergence within five days that mudded in an erratic stand and compacted soil. Plants are an always gathering sunlight to fuel their different tasks. Those tasks include forming biomass and sugars as well as pulling in minerals from the soil to fuel the leaves and fill the pods. Having larger or more leaves would give such plants an advantage in yield potential. As would increasing radiation use efficiency by applying foliar spray of minerals. One can evaluate each program by growing larger and thicker leaves.
Scout for BCW
We sure had enough winds from the south to bring in moths which produce eggs and larvae which loving finding tender crops to feed on. Will the later emerging crops skate by with no feeding threat. Those larvae may have to feed on grass pastures as many of our fields remain black yet?
Hormonal Control
In a year when cloudy conditions seem to be the rule, and plant growth may need to be sped up, the use of proven hormonal or kelp products may pay dividends this season. So much of this work and research is still theoretical and open to discussion. Be aware of them, as a portion of them could provide benefits to your crops and bottom lines.
Bob Streit is an independent crop consultant and columnist for Farm News. He can be reached at (515) 709-0143 or www.CentralIowaAg.com.